Class & Bonus Power Combination - What's Yours?

First off, ME3's system for handling bonus powers is completely retarded. Can't fathom how they were going from a perfectly functional mechanic to the unpolished mess in ME3.

On topic. Played Infiltrator and found Energy Drain to be the perfect supplement for the class. Deal massive damage to shields (out of cloak) and replenish my own and hence raises survivability. Supplements the anti-armor utility of Incinerate for a perfectly rounded build.

tl/dr Infiltrator & Energy Drain

Is there a way to get Overload as one of these? I wish there was. :( I ended up going for Carnage. I couldn't find anything better to use.

Infil and defense matrix. But energy drain kinda sounds like a better bet.

I played as an adept, i had relied on the warp/throw combo to get past shields but energy drain is a lot faster while boosting my own shields and damage resistance, it led to a more aggressive play style which i appreciated.

Played as a sentinel and energy drain seemed to be the most useful. Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Engineer and Marksman. It really helped out on Hardcore especially against Brutes, Banshees, and Atlases.

Sentinel with warp ammo. Not that it really matters anymore. Almost at the max level and I'm pretty much unstoppable at this point. I don't even use cover anymore. I just walk forward and use liara's singularity every 2 seconds while shooting and warp/overload as needed.

Infiltrator and Marksman, although I pretty much only used Cloak and Incinerate with my Black Widow V.

Engi and Warp Ammo.
I just wanted a passive ammo power without having to rely on always taking certain companions.

lol sentinel  defense matrix That's right my crazy ass had two armor types up and you know what it worked I might of well been a soldier as much as i was using my powers but i never died. 

Biotic explosions Biotic explosions Biotic explosions Biotic explosions Warp Ammo

I love how now you can cause an explosion by just combining two biotic powers instead of just Warp causing them.

@joshthebear said:

Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Thats a great quote for the box if I ever saw one. Having fun playing the game mostly but damn, when you compare it to ME2 I don't even know what happened or how..

I haven't found any bonus power really useful, just adepting around as usual. If you have a balanced squad, which isn't as easy in ME3, then I think bonus powers are almost pointless.

Infiltrator with Warp Ammo. Kinda meh, but I didn't care for Disruptor/Cryo ammo, and any abilities like Carnage just fucked with the cooldown for actually useful abilities. I don't think I ever got "energy drain" though, but that sounds okay.

Played a Vanguard and for my bonus power I had...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I DIDN'T NEED A BONUS POWER, I WAS A FRICKING VANGUARD!

Ahem... I sincerely apologize for that... Just... Biotic Charge, Nova, Shotgun. You need nothing else.

Soldier and Anything, Currently using Energy Drain.

Sentinel and Warp Ammo.

First off, ME3's system for handling bonus powers is completely retarded. Can't fathom how they were going from a perfectly functional mechanic to the unpolished mess in ME3.

@joshthebear said:

Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Thats a great quote for the box if I ever saw one. Having fun playing the game mostly but damn, when you compare it to ME2 I don't even know what happened or how..

@Tennmuerti: Well in ME2 you got them for doing loyalty missions for your followers. That made video-game sense. In ME3 you just get them. I have carnage from James I assume but I don't remember interacting with him that much. I make it a habit to talk to everyone after each mission as per ME standards but I don't think it even mentioned when I got it. Do you get them by doing a single missions with a crew member? I have like 3 unique powers to choose from and I'm early on in the game.

I was referencing the entire game more than just these powers. Like I said I'm enjoying ME3 for what it is - but in comparison to ME2 it seems all over the place. In ME2 everything fit - Cerberus brings you back; you're working on your own and thats great because the council and military was just constantly holding you back. You have the Illusive man as your backer who's dedicated to helping you face this new threat any way possible, new ship, new members. Gathering your team made total sense and the loyalty missions and outfits were neat. In ME3 you're back to begging the council for help which is ridiculous. You get your old ship back with no enhancements. No Mako or Hammerhead. Followers just come and go as they please. The scanning is there but they just cut out a ton of it and put in that weird Reaper detection. All of it just seems all disjointed and without a focus. You see Reapers murdering entire worlds all over the galaxy and people on the citadel are just chilling. Theres that entire floor full of refugees and wounded yet in the commons people are talking about how to send their toddler to human school. Still it's a fun game to play, but what happened?

@Tennmuerti: Well in ME2 you got them for doing loyalty missions for your followers. That made video-game sense. In ME3 you just get them. I have carnage from James I assume but I don't remember interacting with him that much. I make it a habit to talk to everyone after each mission as per ME standards but I don't think it even mentioned when I got it. Do you get them by doing a single missions with a crew member? I have like 3 unique powers to choose from and I'm early on in the game.

I was referencing the entire game more than just these powers. Like I said I'm enjoying ME3 for what it is - but in comparison to ME2 it seems all over the place. In ME2 everything fit - Cerberus brings you back; you're working on your own and thats great because the council and military was just constantly holding you back. You have the Illusive man as your backer who's dedicated to helping you face this new threat any way possible, new ship, new members. Gathering your team made total sense and the loyalty missions and outfits were neat. In ME3 you're back to begging the council for help which is ridiculous. You get your old ship back with no enhancements. No Mako or Hammerhead. Followers just come and go as they please. The scanning is there but they just cut out a ton of it and put in that weird Reaper detection. All of it just seems all disjointed and without a focus. You see Reapers murdering entire worlds all over the galaxy and people on the citadel are just chilling. Theres that entire floor full of refugees and wounded yet in the commons people are talking about how to send their toddler to human school. Still it's a fun game to play, but what happened?

@Tennmuerti: Well thats a matter of opinion really. To me doing a mission with a team mate and helping them resolve some deep personal conflict made sense. Just talking to them and getting a power seems like ehhh.

I knew about the Hammerhead getting retrofitted for thicker armor but I'm just saying it's the third game and you seem to have less to work with. At this point it seems silly anyone would even go to the council for anything since for the past two games they've been completely impotent in making any sort of decisions and just hinder any progress. Being a Spectre has already proven to be all but useless even in the first game and being "reinstated" as a Spectre in ME3 made me roll my eyes like yah thanks I'm sure that will help a lot. Since it's a third game I thought you'd get a new ship and new abilities and that finally my team would stick around. I'm playing adept again and theres no new powers for me to dabble in. It's actually strange to think that three games in and I'm still using the same Adept powers - the answer is well go play another class then, but thats a poor answer in a game that promotes playing the same character from game to game.

Anyway I digress.

Overall people have negative opinions of the game and I myself am not really that happy in the direction they took it in - so naturally small things will seem more jarring than they otherwise would. I'm not some sort of thick headed bone-head. I read the conversations and enjoy the plot - but theres a whole ton of stuff in ME3 that just doesn't make much sense to me and just getting powers through trivial conversation seems like a poor decision. I mean I had ONE major conversation with James. I know nothing about his past still or that bad mission he went on. I don't know how I got that carnage power or why.

Infiltrator with Warp Ammo. It's a "jack of all trades" type of ammo, but combined with a Mark V Widow, Alliance Training/Tactical Cloak power bonuses that improve headshot/health/sniper damage, Concentration and Extended Barrel Mods you might as well call everything that shows up at the end of that scope dead. Finished first run-through on insanity with this combo if it means anything.

@Tennmuerti: Well thats a matter of opinion really. To me doing a mission with a team mate and helping them resolve some deep personal conflict made sense. 

 There is a actually a joke  towards the end where shepard has a convo poking fun at solving entire's team daddy issues in 2 :)
That seemed incredibly contrived and gamey to me how it was done in 2. I guess Bioware recognised that.

At this point it seems silly anyone would even go to the council for anything since for the past two games they've been completely impotent in making any sort of decisions and just hinder any progress.

They still hold certain power, more then most. And they do come through, in a crisis even if grindingly, thats bureaucracy for you.

 I read the conversations and enjoy the plot - but theres a whole ton of stuff in ME3 that just doesn't make much sense to me and just getting powers through trivial conversation seems like a poor decision. I mean I had ONE major conversation with James. I know nothing about his past still or that bad mission he went on. I don't know how I got that carnage power or why.

@Tennmuerti: It makes sense in game world. It's a game after all. Not only does getting their power make a lot more sense by doing personal missions with them it also creates deeper bonds with the characters - since you not only learn about their past, but also participate in resolving it. How did you get concussive blast from Garrus? Well you went out of your way to help him catch that master criminal so when you got back to the ship he taught you it as a way of saying thanks. Boom, there you go, it happened during a loading screen. How is it better that you learn someones unique ability by just listening to their daddy issues and then walking away - because make no mistake they all still have very real daddy issues, Liara being whiny as ever. So which one makes more sense to you? Cause getting them from just talking away about someones cranky past without actually doing anything cannot seriously make more sense to you.

The council has not come through in any way thus far, it has always been all on you. I haven't beat ME3 so who knows maybe they'll do something, probably not as I'm already doing missions behind their back as once again they won't listen to me. (Thats why I enjoyed killing them in ME1)

@Tennmuerti: It makes sense in game world. It's a game after all. Not only does getting their power make a lot more sense by doing personal missions with them it also creates deeper bonds with the characters - since you not only learn about their past, but also participate in resolving it. How did you get concussive blast from Garrus? Well you went out of your way to help him catch that master criminal so when you got back to the ship he taught you it as a way of saying thanks. Boom, there you go, it happened during a loading screen. How is it better that you learn someones unique ability by just listening to their daddy issues and then walking away - because make no mistake they all still have very real daddy issues, Liara being whiny as ever. So which one makes more sense to you? Cause getting them from just talking away about someones cranky past without actually doing anything cannot seriously make more sense to you.

 The council has not come through in any way thus far, it has always been all on you. I haven't beat ME3 so who knows maybe they'll do something, probably not as I'm already doing missions behind their back as once again they won't listen to me. (Thats why I enjoyed killing them in ME1)

Soldier with Barrier (for the instantaneous shield regen)

never used cryo ammo in ME2 but I am digging it now with my infiltrator class

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli said:

First off, ME3's system for handling bonus powers is completely retarded. Can't fathom how they were going from a perfectly functional mechanic to the unpolished mess in ME3.

@Humanity said:

@joshthebear said:

Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Thats a great quote for the box if I ever saw one. Having fun playing the game mostly but damn, when you compare it to ME2 I don't even know what happened or how..

Can you fellas elaborate? It seemed totally fine to me. Not different to ME2 at all. You get them pretty much the same way. You make them available to your dude in the same way. You use them exectly the same way. Heck haf the bonus powers are exctly tht same as they were in ME2.

You cannot reassign powers. You can learn them once. If you change it, that power is gone forever. If you've got points allocated to a bonus power, you'll pay 5k credits and not get anything in return. In ME2 you could mix and match to your hearts content, as long as you had eezo.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli said:

First off, ME3's system for handling bonus powers is completely retarded. Can't fathom how they were going from a perfectly functional mechanic to the unpolished mess in ME3.

@Humanity said:

@joshthebear said:

Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Thats a great quote for the box if I ever saw one. Having fun playing the game mostly but damn, when you compare it to ME2 I don't even know what happened or how..

Can you fellas elaborate? It seemed totally fine to me. Not different to ME2 at all. You get them pretty much the same way. You make them available to your dude in the same way. You use them exectly the same way. Heck haf the bonus powers are exctly tht same as they were in ME2.

You cannot reassign powers. You can learn them once. If you change it, that power is gone forever. If you've got points allocated to a bonus power, you'll pay 5k credits and not get anything in return. In ME2 you could mix and match to your hearts content, as long as you had eezo.

Adept with warm ammo. Early in the game I got the specter Sniper though, and all I did was headshot all the things thanks to my headshot friendly armor bonuses and weapon mods, mouse made it really easy too. I barely used any of my biotic powers because shit would just get one-shotted.  
If the ending wasn't shit, I'd play again with incinerate ammo sniper to get the full effect. 

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli said:

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli said:

First off, ME3's system for handling bonus powers is completely retarded. Can't fathom how they were going from a perfectly functional mechanic to the unpolished mess in ME3.

@Humanity said:

@joshthebear said:

Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Thats a great quote for the box if I ever saw one. Having fun playing the game mostly but damn, when you compare it to ME2 I don't even know what happened or how..

Can you fellas elaborate? It seemed totally fine to me. Not different to ME2 at all. You get them pretty much the same way. You make them available to your dude in the same way. You use them exectly the same way. Heck haf the bonus powers are exctly tht same as they were in ME2.

You cannot reassign powers. You can learn them once. If you change it, that power is gone forever. If you've got points allocated to a bonus power, you'll pay 5k credits and not get anything in return. In ME2 you could mix and match to your hearts content, as long as you had eezo.

Not sure i'm following. You can reassign all your points including the bonus power all you want from the main respec option. Just pay money. It cost something in ME2 it costs soemthing in ME3 You can also striaght up change just the bonus power to any other one, 5k and you get a different power and the points that you spent in the previous one. You can always reassign to the bonus power you ahd before. You can mix and match to your hearts content as long as you have credits.

Not in my game. I can buy bonus powers once and then they disappear forever from the list. When I had points allocated to my bonus power, I'd pay 5k and not get the new bonus power. That's how it was for me. Playing on PC, likely encountering some random ass bug, if it was any different for you.

The game is a buggy piece of shit on the one hand, on the other it's pretty damn excellent.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli said:

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli said:

First off, ME3's system for handling bonus powers is completely retarded. Can't fathom how they were going from a perfectly functional mechanic to the unpolished mess in ME3.

@Humanity said:

@joshthebear said:

Overall the whole bonus power system was terrible and seemed kind of half-assed, much like a lot of things in ME3.

Thats a great quote for the box if I ever saw one. Having fun playing the game mostly but damn, when you compare it to ME2 I don't even know what happened or how..

Can you fellas elaborate? It seemed totally fine to me. Not different to ME2 at all. You get them pretty much the same way. You make them available to your dude in the same way. You use them exectly the same way. Heck haf the bonus powers are exctly tht same as they were in ME2.

You cannot reassign powers. You can learn them once. If you change it, that power is gone forever. If you've got points allocated to a bonus power, you'll pay 5k credits and not get anything in return. In ME2 you could mix and match to your hearts content, as long as you had eezo.

Not sure i'm following. You can reassign all your points including the bonus power all you want from the main respec option. Just pay money. It cost something in ME2 it costs soemthing in ME3 You can also striaght up change just the bonus power to any other one, 5k and you get a different power and the points that you spent in the previous one. You can always reassign to the bonus power you ahd before. You can mix and match to your hearts content as long as you have credits.

Not in my game. I can buy bonus powers once and then they disappear forever from the list. When I had points allocated to my bonus power, I'd pay 5k and not get the new bonus power. That's how it was for me. Playing on PC, likely encountering some random ass bug, if it was any different for you.

The game is a buggy piece of shit on the one hand, on the other it's pretty damn excellent.

Rolling into ME3 as a level 32 Adept, I felt like a badass with how powerful Biotic combos were. Then I played multiplayer and now I can't stop spamming shockwave because it's so damn fun. Shockwave. Shockwave. Shockwave. Warp. Shockwave. Shockwave.